Mumbai: Man discovers thieves looting his house, locks them inside

The trio, including a woman and a rape accused, had hired a car from Latur; they were caught stuffing valuables into bags by the homeowner’s son, who called the police and got them arrested

In what must have been one of the most embarrassing nights of their thieving careers, three housebreakers were caught in the act by the homeowner’s son, who locked them inside the fourth-floor Dindoshi flat and let them out only when the police had arrived to nab them.

The owner’s son entered the flat to find the thieves inside. He rushed out, (below )locked the door from outside and began screaming for help, prompting neighbours to come to his aid. The police were called in and the thieves were nabbed. Illustration/Amit Bandre

While one of the three arrested housebreakers is a woman, another is wanted in the kidnap and rape case of a minor in Pune.

According to officials, Sharada Patil, her lover Nitin Bavlage and the rape accused, Ashok Bhansode, rented an Indigo car from Latur to come to Mumbai, ostensibly to seek Lord Ganesh’s blessings, on Saturday night. Near Goregaon, they told the driver that they were going to a pandal for Ganpati darshan, asked him to wait, and never came back. They entered a building in Dindoshi and found one flat locked on the fourth floor. They broke open the lock, switched on the light and started stuffing valuables into bags.

The flat belongs to one Sanjay Patil (name changed), who had gone to his village with his family, leaving only the son behind. The son was sitting with his friends in the Ganpati pandal and decided to go home around 2.30 am. When he reached his floor, he was shocked to find the door unlocked. He went in, found the lights on and saw that the trio was busy looting his house. He immediately rushed out and locked the door from the outside.

He informed people in his building, who immediately called the cops. Senior Inspector Subhash Dafle of the Dindoshi police said, “We opened the lock and caught the three accused red-handed. We recovered valuables worth 1.5 lakh from them. The three accused were desperate to get out of the house after they were locked in, but there was no way out.”

“While Patil and Bavlage are seeing each other, Bhansode is wanted in a minor girl’s kidnapping and rape case registered at the Nigdi police station in Pune. The trio has been charged under sections 457 (Lurking house-trespass or housebreaking by night in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment), 380 (Theft in dwelling, house, etc) and 34 (Common intention) of the IPC. They were produced in court and remanded in police custody till September 3. Further investigations are on, as we suspect the accused were involved in several similar cases.”